developing ic product designers & managers
In this case study we will review the work of an IC3 Product Designer, and how by coaching their manager to identify gaps in their teams competency and by connecting them to collaborate with other specialists and get new skills in content strategy they produced successful product selector tools that have impacted their initiatives OKRs.
Background on the ReEngage Initiative: Etsy is known for as the place to go for personal one of a kind gifts, from engagement rings to baby gifts. Many first time buyers are unaware of the large breadth of items sold on Etsy’s market place. It’s a challenge that most large e-commerce companies focus on… How might we bring new and infrequent buyers back to Etsy?
The flywheel.
At the beginning of 2021 the team created a framework to help us think about how key behaviors and experiences within the customer journey impacts each other within the entire Etsy experience.
Their hypothesis was based on the idea that we needed to ‘collect’ more and more information from customers through various quizzes and product selector tools in order to collect enough information for personalized recommendations and experiences.
They hypothesize that with more personalized recommendations there would be increased item views and eventually repurchase.
Initial prototype
The initial prototype contained recommendations that would be related to a users interaction with a product in the selector tool. If a user clicks on a mosaic cup, they will see more mosaic cups.
Initially there was signal that users were engaging, however it did not yield traction beyond that.
My role: I came into the team’s work to observe the the teams’s interaction, provide direction on the visual experience and hypothesis development through design crits. I Identified gaps in core knowledge (using the approach below) on the design team, or opportunities for cross-collaboration. A stronger knowledge of content strategy driven by advanced data-modeling capabilities was needed.
At Etsy we currently offer three distinct career pathways: generalist, visual design, and content strategy and information architecture. Below illustrates these three approaches and articulates greater detail.
approach to developing designers
-
GENERALIST
The backbone of the generalist path is Interaction Design — the design of features and functionality for the full array of Etsy’s products and services based upon our customers’ desires, needs, motivations, and contexts.
Generalists focus their careers on developing their skill as an Interaction Designer while simultaneously and evenly leveling up all of the core competencies defined by the IC Levels Matrix.
-
VISUAL DESIGN
In contrast, a designer specializing in Visual Design will intentionally hone a unique combination of domain specific skills to create attractive, understandable, and usable experiences, which draw from a diverse and wide-ranging set.
Animation, Art Direction, Concepting and Ideation, Data Visualization, Graphic Design, Illustration, Moodboarding, Photography, Prototyping, Typography, User Interface Design
-
CONTENT STRATEGY & INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
A Designer who specializes in content strategy will have a wide range of skillsets that culminate into understanding how to organize, structure, and source information that compliments the designed features, fulfills customers’ needs, and is evokes the brand’s voice.
Content Strategists and Information Architects may develop in Taxonomy, Diagraming, Search Engine Optimization, Brand Positioning & Voice, UX copywriting, AML, Ontology, Computer Vision.
Working with the design manager and coached them to put a development plan together for their direct report and then worked to bring in resources from machine learning group to provide trainings on ontology and the advanced work being done within our Knowledge Base teams. Below lays out what they learned, the impact those learnings had on the designs and how that helped them to achieve their OKR goals.
ontology + Design
Ontology 101.
Ontology is essentially the practice of defining objects and the relationships between other objects. Leveraging their flywheel I asked the Ontologist to identify and define relationships between interactions on the flywheel as an example for a department training on the subject I organized. In doing so, it helped the team realize new possibilities and ideas for HMW generation.
new possibilities
By collaborating with product listing and the machine learning / ontologist they were able to experiment with datasets that offered products that were related in various ways such as a persons potential interests.
end result
User testing gave confidence that the experience will drive success in sparking new buying missions by offering unexpected recommendations that are just personal enough. This work drove purchase frequency above the 2021 goal by over 50%.